22,796 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
Haha--we don't take pics of "regular roses" around here, and if a mistake is made and we do, those pics go in a buried vault, never to see the light of day. I'll dig up one to show you.
I use all kinds of fertilizer. My favorite are the "Tones"--Rose Tone, Plant Tone, etc, whatever I can get my hands on in a 36 pound bag and for the cheapest price. I use manure and compost in combination, too, and cheap granular fertilizer (just once a year on that type). Thinking of eliminating it. Let's see if I can find a "regular" rose pic. Diane
Congratulations, and that's an intriguing way of coaching new volunteers not to prune the roses too low. The wooden stakes are probably reusable year after year, and they help avoid people's poor estimates of about "three feet" or whatever the pruning target might be.
I suppose there's unlikely to be anything blooming by the end of January is there, even in San Jose? I'll be there for work at the end of January/first of February and I'd love to see the gardens, but I fear they'd still be in down times. Well done regardless on a truly daunting task.
Cynthia
OK, I admit to being so rose-o-centric that I saw this title thinking these were names of roses, and I clicked on it with great excitement wondering what color "Steel Arbour" was going to be. That elusive grey-beige color, but deeper? At first glance it sounded better than a rose called Vinyl Arbour would be, though I could see it passing as a creamy beige. It sounds like you're getting some nice advice and steel wins the picture as well for ACTUAL arbors. If you ever decide to hybridize a Steel Arbor, however, do let us know.
Cynthia
Well Cynthia, if I should ever hybridize any rose, I will name it after you...lol.
Again, thank you all for your input. Much appreciated.
I thought you guys should know that I came across an article whose author said that avoid aluminum and iron arbours because they will rust. Steel arbour is the way to go. Having said that evidently the current vinyl arbour sold by Home depot and Lowes is supposed to be very "weather resistant". Either way, both has pros and cons, it comes to a matter of personal preference.
I think you are talking about the BBC show"The Great British Garden Revival." IT had segments on many types of gardens. It is having a second season at the moment and the first episode of the second series is on roses, same presenter, this time more emphasis on old roses.
I love British gardening shows, they are so much better than anything in USA at the moment. If you subscribe to Garden World youtube site, you will have a huge variety to choose from.
Patience is a virtue. I have had climbing roses which did not bloom at all or a lot for their first 4 Springs, then exploded in bloom the next year, and every year thereafter. Some climbing roses just do not think about blooming until they think they have achieved the correct height - go figure. How tall is it? HMF says it gets up to 12 feet, but their numbers are usually way low for warm climates, so perhaps it wants to be taller - the rose will decide (if you give it a chance).
I think feeding it is a good idea - in your climate, I might even feed it now, but be sure to follow the directions so that you do not burn it. Then you need to WAIT. It would be a shame if you shovel prune it in March, having wasted 3 years, when you only had to wait one more...
Assuming it is getting enough sun and water, you will eventually be rewarded with bloom, and it will be worth it!
Jackie
Yeah, I agree with Jackie -- go ahead and feed it.
It may just be that it's not going to bloom much until it gets to be as big as it wants to be. But I've also had very tall Shrub Roses that just NEVER produced much bloom, here at the coast, because they stubbornly require a bit more cold than we can offer them.
Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal
The two are SO different!
Hermosa was a good rose in my conditions, but I didn't get as much bloom as I'd have liked, from it -- not as much bloom, say, as a "pure" China. But it's a GREAT rose, and a long-lived one. We find it everywhere, in old cemeteries.
Snowbird, now -- what a survivor that is!
There's an old house in the San Fernando Valley with a row of decades-neglected Snowbirds. This was one of the top show roses of the 30's-40's, and man, you can see why. It'll bloom its heart out, and has no disease in Southern California.
That one in the Valley was collected as "Louise Ave. White HT," and it now grows in the Sacramento City Cemetery. They're going to offer it at Open Garden, in April. I might even buy another one, myself.
I agree with your sentiments. My roses are still putting out buds even though we had a few nights in the 30's. My brugs didn't do so well and some died back to the ground. Also happened to my Hawaiian White Ginger. I love my roses because I always get lots of blooms for all the work I do. Not true for other flowers I have grown.
Clare
I don't exactly have the tropical plant problems you have, but I agree about roses--they are mostly tough. Mine survive 100 degree days in the summers and winters with single digit temps, and I've never lost a one. For a tropical look up here, i grow hardy hibiscus, and I love them. Diane
It's not the problem of virus living in the soil so much as leaving roots behind after a dig out.
The virus can live in the roots that might be left behind.
Root to root transmission of viruses in rose bushes has been proved by Giolino and others (and it's published in refereed journals). It hasn't been proved to happen for RRD infected roses, yet. But I have seen that infected roots of very large roses can put up RRD infected roses several feet from the dug out bush, when we thought we had dug out all of the roots.
For a two or three year old rose, the root mass probably isn't going to be massive. But do leave a little time for the roots to come back. (See all the Dr. Huey that comes back when we've dug out what we thought were all the roots.
Ann, Dr. Whitcomb said that if there were roots left, they could not graft or spread the virus to the new plant. I'm just going by what he said. Of course you have to try to get all the roots and it may be a good idea to wait to see what comes up (especially if it's Dr. Huey rootstock).
BTW, I met some members of your society. Sorry you couldn't make it.
Dr. Windham also spoke at the joint Deep South District and Carolina District Mid Winter Meeting this past weekend. I'm sure it's similar to the link above. But the advice is to remove bushes with RRD immediately. Also things that are being worked on are a 'stick' type test for RRD, natural predators, some miticides that show promise and the new grant for RRD Research. And as always, constant vigilance in your own garden is the best preventive to keep RRD from devastating your roses.
I blew it, too. I swore to myself I wouldn't order any until I had planted everything in the pot ghetto--until Roses Unlimited notified they were shipping a replacement rose and did I want to add some to the box. And you know how that goes.
Jay, my Baronne Prevost had buds for the first time. I've been eagerly awaiting the opening, but when I went out this morning, two of my horses had gotten out and chomped off all the buds--Rose blooms are like crack to my two Tennessee Walkers. I'm still steamed.
Well I just blew it again. Ordered from Regans now. Well, I have an excuse, sort of. We have to have our septic system replaced, and need to have two very large trees cut down beforehand. Had to dig out about 60 roses in two beds in order not to lose them when the trees go down. Plus we're not sure exactly where the leach lines are going. (most likely right where the larger bed was) Anyway, in the process of digging out the roses, I discovered I lost a few of them. One was ROCK 'N' ROLL. So of course I have to replace it, and had to order two more to make it worth the shipping, and get the 10% off. So I also ordered BIG MOMMA which I just fell in love with after seeing Sara-Ann's pic in the "B Roses" thread in the Gallery. And the third one was yet another replacement attempt at SILVER STAR. (it always dies on me) One of the other roses that died I'll have to order from Roses Unlimited. But I think I'll wait a bit and figure out what else I want (but don't really need)....
I would keep a shovel handy. If after two years it is still moping, place the shovel by the plant. After three years use the shovel. The rose store is still open.
I agree it is best to compost from the top down. Let the earthworms do the digging for you.
I try and pick a rose with a zone or two hardiness than the zone I live in (in my case the Mudwest.)
Contact your local ARS rose club ( there are a few left) and pick their brains. Keep in mind many of them are HT nuts.
I like Standing Perpetually. You may not.
What ever sets your heart afire.
Here is a link that might be useful: Stanwell Perpetual
I wish to retract and apologize for my uncalled for crack about the ARS. I can think of no other organization in the last few years who have tried so hard to broaden their coverage of roses of all sorts.
Give them a try. Their Magazine has lots of good info and advice.
If you are lucky you could join a local organization and get a few ideas, all sorts of stuff.
On second thought, the best advice IMHO that I could give a newcomer to roses would be to join the ARS.
Here is a link that might be useful: four-month trial membership for only $10
Yes, unless there are only a few bushes the only practical approach is to either plant clean kinds of roses or spray them.
The latter is definitely not an option as far as I am concerned, let alone am I going to go picking leaves off.
When I had a rose collection here I had no trouble identifying and acquiring kinds that were not disease magnets. Now I just have several kinds, due to taking most of the front garden out and putting in lawn, in order to regain control and make the property more conventionally appealing (in anticipation of when the time comes that I am not here anymore).
Some do, some don't. Interesting replies, and as a plus I learned about teas...that they are, sadly , too big for my smallish garden....and they are verrry prickly. I also learned I've not been taking off enough branches: all under pinkie width. Thanks to all of you, expect I'll have a better roses year. Oh, and if the winds don't kick up this week, I will remove all the ugly leaves and sweep them up before composting. I feel like such a slow rose learner. Love this forum's generous members . :)
Too funny, SJN. He's a beautiful guy and I think he knows it. He must make some good fertilizer for you :)
Thanks jasminerose4u ! Yep we get a lot of chicken fertilizer around here and they eat lots of bugs too :)
~SJN